Iowa City Police charged an Uber driver with sexual abuse of a passenger from an incident last year.

Police have arrested Ali Alsheik, 37, for allegedly sexually assaulting his female passenger at about 12 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2017 while driving her in an Uber from downtown Iowa City back to her home.

According to the complaint, the victim was sitting in the front seat of the car. Police say the drive to the victim's house should have taken eight minutes, but Uber records and GPS information show the victim was in the car for about 29 minutes. The driver took an indirect route to the victim's home and stopped along the way, the complaint says.

Police allege Alsheik then sexually assaulted the victim against her will.

The victim was examined at the hospital and a rape kit was taken within hours of the incident, according to the police complaint. DNA from the kit matched DNA taken from Alsheik's sperm, the police complaint said, and DNA taken from Alsheik's penis matched DNA from the victim. DNA taken from the passenger seat of the car showed a mixture of DNA from both Alsheik and the victim, police say.

Alsheik told police that he had no sexual contact with the passenger, and said she had made sexual advances on him. He told police that he merely drove her home.

A spokeswoman from Uber said Alsheik was permanently removed from the app in October after the company learned of the incident. She added that the company fully cooperated with Iowa City Police investigation.

Alsheik has been charged with third degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Reach Will Greenberg at wgreenberg@press-citizen.com, by phone at 319-887-5407, and follow him on Twitter @wrgree.